Usage of shipping pallets made predominantly of corrugated paperboard material is widespread, primarily because of their low cost, recyclability, and cleanliness. Typically, such pallets employ longitudinally extending, transversely spaced stringers, which are made from folded pieces of corrugated paperboard. Such pallets also may employ transversely extending, longitudinally spaced decking members, which also are made from folded pieces of corrugated paperboard. Further, it is known to provide such pallets with upper and lower sheets, which are secured adhesively to the upper and lower edges of the stringers.
As described above, shipping pallets made predominantly of paperboard material, such as corrugated paperboard, are exemplified in Schmidtke U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,325, Quasnick U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,074, and Smith U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,991. Similar pallets made predominantly of corrugated paperboard are available commercially from Gate Pallet Systems, Inc. of Crown Point, Ind. under its PAYLOAD trademark.
Other pallets of related interest are disclosed in Fallert et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,446,914 and Gifford U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,371. The pallets disclosed therein have paperboard sheets folded to form channels having rectangular profiles. The channels are filled with stacked layers of paperboard to form outer stringers.